Jin SeCh31 - Conjuncture

Many years ago, when Shi Wuduan was just a mischievous child living on Jiulu Mountain, he thought that training and cultivation meant learning how to divine the stars and fly on swords. Those were very normal things to him, very normal to the Xuan Sect and the other two great sects.

When his shifu was still alive, Shi Wuduan would often follow him curiously when he visited Dacheng Sect. If he’d ever seen anything useful there, he’d long forgotten about it. The only thing left of the place was the faint memory of their unbelievably bland food. All the carrots and plain water had just about made him sprout a pair of rabbit’s ears. pKYtQN

When he was young, all the adults — including his shifu — would always tell him a beautiful story: Dao cultivators must train their minds and bodies, obey the rules of the sect, and do acts of good. Cultivators were rare because it was a difficult path to walk. Once someone set foot on it, they had to have the resolve to endure their lone journey, pity the fate of mankind, and remain true to themselves no matter what trials and hardships they suffered.

To summarize all that righteous tripe, it just meant that cultivators were very impressive and very concerned about the common people, so it was only natural that the common people should worship them and elevate them to the stratum of sages and deities.

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Shi Wuduan had once believed in that story — back when he’d just grown out of his diapers and didn’t know that “the common people” and “pity the fate of mankind” were not terms used to describe sesame seed cakes.

Later on, once he properly started to study books and accumulate experience, he began to understand the real implications of his shifu’s and shishu’s words — cultivators, all throughout the land, were incredibly exalted. They had the power to summon winds and beckon rains. They could soar the skies and delve the earth. Whenever others spoke of them, they’d tack on the phrase “legend had it” as an expression of reverence, not because they were powerful, but because they were rare.  1afInX

Long ago, it was normal for dynasties to rise and fall, for the lands to change hands every two or three centuries. Some dynasties lasted mere decades, or even less, their unfortunate emperors booted off their imperial thrones by a kick to the royal buttocks.

The sun descends at its zenith, the moon wanes once it’s full. Once something had experienced birth and growth, revealing its radiance as it slowly matured, conflict and corruption would follow in its wake. There was nothing in the world that was without flaws. When the dazzling glory fell away, the blemishes it concealed would surface one by one until they brought about the cataclysmic ruin from which new things would arise. 

That was simply the natural way of things, at least it was, until the rise of cultivators — more specifically, until the day that the three great sects, warring and allying in turns over the long years, formed a stable triumvirate.

The three sects were bound by a secret treaty, not the kind that mortals could simply write down on paper, for it was enforced by some mysterious power. Their disciples were vaguely aware of its existence, but aside from the sect leaders themselves, no one else knew the terms of the treaty or how it was maintained.

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The great sects had grown to such an extent that the smaller, scattered sects were forced to hide in their shadows for fear of drawing unwanted attention. Mortals feared the might of cultivators, who were nigh invincible in their eyes, none more so than the emperor; more than half of his high-ranked officials had come from a cultivation sect.

The threshold for entering the Dao was one that perfectly lined up with popular belief; it was called “predetermination”.

To explain it in comprehensible terms, it meant one had to be lucky enough to catch the eye of some “high and mighty person” in order to have a chance to cross that perilous, bloodstained, narrow plank walkway. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

The moment Shi Wuduan and Gu Huaiyang began walking down the path of rebellion, an endeavor that would likely end their lives, they knew that the biggest obstacles standing in their way were the great sects. Without the power to contend against them, all prosperity and opulence was merely an illusion. CAFXKe

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As they courteously and politely presented Gu Huaiyang’s letter, they mingled amongst Cui Hu’s army and caught up with old friends and fellows.

Most of the Anqing troops were rather amiable. On one side, there was their gold and silver-laden compatriots, on the other, there was the pitiless slavedriver King of Anqing. No one was stupid; they knew that no matter how silver Cui Hu’s tongue was, it wasn’t as silver as cold hard money.

So, when Meng Zhongyong sprang the ambush, many of the Anqing soldiers who’d been swayed by gold chose to switch their allegiances to a more worthy ruler. The king himself though was felled by a saber to the back from Meng Zhongyong. He made not a sound as he fell off his horse and went forth to have a reunion dinner with his ancestors. VjFmlx

The following day, by the time that Lu Yunzhou and a few soldiers finally “rushed over,” they “shockingly” discovered that the King of Anqing had been “tragically robbed” by bandits while he was on his way to “inspect” Guji City. He instantly sent people to “purse the thieves.” Unfortunately, their enemies were too crafty, and his people returned empty-handed. He could only “sorrowfully” bring the former king’s troops along and settle them as best as possible.

Ignoring the matter of how Gu Huaiyang would explain the incident to the imperial court and how everyone would split Cui Hu’s possessions, Shi Wuduan retrieved the corpse of the girl who’d died mysteriously in Tender Paradis. He wrote a letter and tied it to the Cuibing bird’s leg, quietly saying, “You know where to deliver it.”

The Cuibing bird confusedly lifted its letter-laden leg. Shi Wuduan bopped its head and softly scolded, “What’re you looking at it for? Hurry and go, if I don’t find something for you to do soon, you’ll get fat as an old hen. Then you won’t be able to fly even if you wanted to.”

The Cuibing bird flapped its wings like an old hen and got into the air, pecking him on the forehead before it left. 0isah3

The rabbit sidled up to him and cutely nudged its head against his leg. Shi Wuduan bent down to pick it up and saw Bai Li, who’d given away no sign of his approach, standing behind him when he stood up.

Shi Wuduan, who wasn’t steady on his feet to begin with, jumped as he had the wits scared out of him. He backed away so quickly he nearly twisted his knee and then looked at the sky in befuddlement, “How come you’re out already? Did you get hungry?”

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“What’re you doing?” Bai Li lightly asked.

Ever since he was young, he disliked raising his voice, almost as if he didn’t want anyone to hear his words. Shi Wuduan answered easily, “Didn’t someone die a while ago? I thought there was something off about the corpse; it didn’t decay or rot at all despite being left there for so long. And there was only pitch-black darkness under the eyelids, not even a trace of rotten eyeballs. I’d been slacking in my studies and didn’t know what to make of it, so I wrote a letter to get someone to come here and help — let’s go, I’ll take you out to tea.” XASE4F

Without any sign of hesitation or aversion, Shi Wuduan grabbed Bai Li and started tugging him about, “That stall is really too small, I didn’t even notice it at first. Although, it has really good snacks…. en, they even invite a storyteller each day around this time.”

Bai Li didn’t resist. He quietly let him drag around as he pleased.

But the rabbit poked its head out from Shi Wuduan’s arms; its round, round eyes stared unblinkingly at Bai Li. The rabbit’s bean-like eyes and its slightly flat face made it look like it was permanently “surprised.”

It kept looking at Bai Li in “surprise,” as if they knew each other. QRN4Ce

Bai Li blandly met its gaze, sneered, and looked away — stupid creature, he thought disdainfully.

The moment that Shi Wuduan had stood up and noticed Bai Li, he’d caught sight of his shadow as well. For some reason, Bai Li’s shadow was already stirring restlessly even though it was clear and sunny out. Perhaps he was mistaken, but he kept feeling like that eerie shadow was made of congealed, vicious, and repressed killing intent.

But all he did was invite Bai Li out on a ridiculous pretext and pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

Bai Li stared at Shi Wuduan’s back. His heart hurt. He could see an endlessly long, utterly unbending thread that looked malleable but was, in truth, inexorably tracing out a preset course. 39rjbt

Suddenly, Bai Li grabbed Shi Wuduan by the wrist, pulling him to a stop. He asked seriously, “Wuduan, I have something to ask you.”

Shi Wuduan’s footsteps halted and he looked back at him somewhat astonishedly.

Bai Li asked, “Are you, along with those people, planning to revolt?”

Even if he’d asked something like “Does General Gu plan to live in Pingyang City?” or “General Gu is rather ambitious, isn’t he?” while he was walking in the middle of the street, he’d have shown that he did indeed know a what the word “discretion” meant. But Bai Li was indeed the kind of person who’d never heard of tact before, so he just bluntly sprang the question on Shi Wuduan. 5OgJdL

Shi Wuduan choked at his question.

Bai Li pressed, “Answer me truthfully.”

Shi Wuduan’s gaze flashed. He lightly laid a hand on the rabbit’s back. Seeming to sense something, the rabbit began trembling. He lowered his eyes in thought and instead of answering, asked, “Since when did you care about what went on in the mortal world? Little Li-zi, if yao cultivators get involved with humans, they must abide by human laws or else risk becoming entangled in karma. You don’t care about the hassle?”

A hint of smile flickered at Bai Li’s lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He said, “Can’t you tell? I’m not a yao, though the one in your arms is.” tpc3LV

Shi Wuduan frowned as Bai Li continued, “So it seems you truly intend to go through with it?”

Are you spying on me? Shi Wuduan thought disgustedly, though he kept his expression under control. He put on a mask of slow-witted confusion, “Aren’t you a fox? If you’re not a yao, what are you?”

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Bai Li’s hand was clamped around Shi Wuduan’s wrist like a vise, almost tight enough to wring his hand off. He gritted his teeth and enunciated clearly, “Don’t play dumb with me, you know what I’m really asking is….”

A group of beggar children ran past them. One of them “accidentally” bumped into Shi Wuduan, who nimbly picked him up by the scruff. Then he slowly retrieved his pouch from the child’s hands. Upon seeing that the child was glaring at him, he glared right back, “What’re you looking at? You’re the one who’s making a fool of yourself with your lousy skills, you nearly yanked my waistband off as well. I doubt you could even pickpocket a corpse.” nz7VoX

Right on cue, his waistband started slipping. Shi Wuduan cursed, letting go of the little beggar, and grabbed his waistband. Yet when Bai Li caught sight of it, he stilled.

There was a hint of something colorful and gaudy peeking out from under his plain white belt, it seemed… very familiar.

Seeing that Shi Wuduan was just about to cover it up, Bai Li couldn’t resist pulling at the ribbon — it was thin, woven from gold-colored thread, and rather worn. The bird feather that’d once been braided in it had lost its luster, there was no hint of it when it was hidden under his wide waist belt… it was the hair tie that Shi Wuduan had gifted to him many years ago.

Shi Wuduan, startled by his actions, slapped his hand away and said in a low voice, “Just what are you yanking my belt out in public for?” feB Xc

While Bai Li was distracted, he quickly straightened out his waistband and picked up the rabbit, nonchalantly turning around and walking away.

He kept it…. Bai Li thought, a strange feeling in his heart. The heaviness pressing down on his chest seemed to have lightened, the sensation distracting him from the previous topic he’d been worried about. Even his shadow had miraculously calmed.

Shi Wuduan walked ahead without looking back. He felt the pressure of Bai Li’s gaze slowly fade. Then he looked down and wiped his palm, clammy with cold sweat, on the rabbit’s fur.

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